


Grindelwald: His Aims and Downfall

by Hilarita



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-07-07
Updated: 2005-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:02:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28386699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hilarita/pseuds/Hilarita
Summary: A pseudo-history of Grindelwald





	Grindelwald: His Aims and Downfall

**Author's Note:**

> This doesn't really need a rating: G, unless you happen to feel that discussing elements of World War II requires a PG rating. [insert rant here about insanity of rating something that's meant to look like a history article].
> 
> It's mildly AU: I date Dumbledore's appointment to the Transfiguration post at Hogwarts to 1945 (a few years behind canon), as I really don't think Grindelwald was considerate enough to arrange things so he could be killed in school holidays. If there are any incorrect facts, do please let me know; likewise, let me know what you think about Grindelwald's possible organisation, ask me questions, etc. So

  
Grindelwald had two main aims: one, to gain power over the wizarding world in Central Europe. Two, to promote the pureblood wizarding way of life.* The latter was never as important to Grindelwald as it was to his successor Lord Voldemort. Grindelwald was pragmatic. His ultimate aim was power within the wizarding world, and he was not above collaborating with Muggles in order to sow chaos and confusion and attain his goal.

* This may have ultimately involved a takeover of the Muggle world, though this is unclear.

Grindelwald took his name from a small village in Austria where fifty wizards were massacred in the fifteenth century. His real name is not known for certain (see E. Alfrege, 'The Real Baron Grindelwald?', _Studies in European History (Wizarding Edition)_ 17 (1992), p.5-101). Grindelwald's name appears in German civil service notes pertaining to the 1919 Wizarding Treaty of Vienna. He seems to have occupied the position of Undersecretary for International Wizarding Relations. The exact remit and title of this post is unclear, as most of the German Ministry of Magic records were destroyed in an explosion in 1935. Many of the surviving documents did not survive the destruction of the Berlin Ministry building in 1945. The papers relating to the 1919 treaty were kept in a secure vault in Gringotts Berlin Branch at that time, and in 1940 were transferred to the branch in Bonn and have thus survived.

**This massacre may have had less to do with Muggles and more to do with local wizarding politics.

Very few wizards now alive claim to have known Grindelwald, perhaps out of fear of attack. Most of those who associated with him after 1930 were executed by the Anglo-French wizarding authorities after the end of the Grindelwald war (this broadly coincided with the end of the Second Muggle World War in Europe (1939-45). Others were imprisoned by the Russian authorities at the Siberian wizarding prison.

Surviving documents indicate that Grindelwald was unsatisfied by the Communist tendencies of German and Austrian wizards, and their desire for greater Muggle interaction, with a corresponding decrease of secrecy.*** Unusually for a Dark wizard, Grindelwald had a great respect for Muggle forms of governance (he considered them unusually efficient), but he disapproved of further integration and openness, as it rendered wizards too vulnerable. This arose in part as a result of Communist wizards arguing that neither wizards nor Muggles were inherently superior, and that therefore they should unite in a truly Socialist State. Around 1925, he began assembling a group to gain control over Wizarding government in Germany and Austria. By 1931, his plans expanded to include wizarding Hungary and Czechoslovakia; he was happy to take advantage of Nazi advances in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and France, but they were not part of his original plans. By this time, Grindelwald had come across the charismatic speaker and politician, Adolf Hitler (these were the words used in Grindelwald's diary for the year 1928) and realised that his National Socialist movement could be of great assistance in achieving those ends. Grindelwald at once assigned members of his organisation to infiltrate the Nazi party from 1929 onwards, and thus he had a large number of officials who could run groups for Grindelwald as well as Hitler, right across Europe.

***At this time, there were some discussions in the Austrian Ministry of Magic about relaxing the Statute of Secrecy. 

While Muggle control was not his primary aim, a document written in early 1940 suggests that once the war was over, Grindelwald planned to put Hitler under an Imperius curse. Before that date, security round Hitler made it too difficult for Grindelwald to gain proximity to Hitler in order to cast and maintain the spell over such a forceful individual. Imperius also causes the person on whom the curse is cast to have lapses of concentration. Grindelwald considered it unwise to cast this spell on a man who was clearly already doing what Grindelwald wanted him to, without any intervention.****

**** It is worth noting that many wizards have thought that Hitler was under Imperius at the end of the war. Records show this is incorrect; his mental health was genuinely precarious and the wizards close to Hitler were unable to cast any spells on him unnoticed. See M. Bagshot, 'Hitler's Health and Magical Interventions: A Reconsideration',in _Wizarding Historian's Biggest Mistakes!_ , ed. G. Huffleshuff, R. MacRubble et al. (Paris, 1984), p.27-70.

Grindelwald had particularly strong links to the SS, and also the Gestapo (see J. Remora's invaluable guide, _A Wizard's Guide to the Muggle Adjuncts to Grindelwald's War_ ). It was largely through these organisations that he carried out his work. He had a few contacts in the Army. One result of Bismarck's 1870 unification of Germany was that members of the wizarding nobility suddenly came to Muggle attention (see Y. Wengen, _Wizards Awake! The True Effect of German Unification_ (Berlin, 1960)). The Army was a powerful political and social force at the time, and some wizards had encouraged their sons to enter the Officer classes in a bid to escape notice and observe the International Statute of Secrecy. This gave Grindelwald an established core of Army wizards to call upon in the 1930s and 40s.

While Hitler was keen to extend his influence into Eastern Europe, Grindelwald was more preoccupied with Central and Western Europe, where more traditionalist wizards lived. The Slavic wizards were a tight-knit group, and only ever worked grudgingly for Grindelwald, preferring to ally themselves with the culturally more familiar Russian wizards. Grindelwald was most concerned with areas formerly part of Germany, now in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Alsace. It was his contacts in the latter area that led him, in the late 1930s, to expand his organisation into France even before the Nazi invasions.

Many French wizards were particularly keen to see him, and eagerly began assimilating themselves into French Muggle organisations. There were several wizards in the Vichy government, but it was the French Milice that contained the largest numbers of pro-Grindelwald wizards and agents. The wizards in France had long disapproved of the shockingly liberal curriculum at Beauxbatons, and Grindelwald promised two things. The first was a return to the teaching of 'traditional values' (what these were was not well defined). The second was an increase in wizarding influence in the Muggle world. Grindelwald had no definite intention to extent that; he was perfectly content for wizards to undermine the Muggle system from within, by attaining senior posts in the Muggle administration, whilst pretending to _be_ Muggle. Presumably the ultimate plan was a takeover of the Muggle world from within, but none of the documents from Grindelwald and his associates mention any major aim beyond that of the reorganisation of the wizarding world. It may be that Grindelwald saw Muggle infiltration as an essential part of this wizarding renaissance, but he made no detailed notes on this.

Grindelwald was a Dark wizard. He drew intense strength, power and pleasure from panic and chaos. His association with Hitler and the infiltration of wizards into Muggle life were his main ways of promoting such chaos. He had teams of dedicated research wizards in laboratories, libraries, museums and private collections across Western Europe, investigating the writings of Dark wizards, Dark potions and artefacts. Grindelwald was working on a wizarding equivalent to the Muggle nuclear bomb. His researches did not prove fruitful in that area, though accounts at war crimes trials suggst that Grindelwald and his research teams were close to perfecting a potion form of Imperius which could be added to the water supply. All indications are that it was a severely weakened form of the Imperius curse which induced a strong inclination to follow orders. The notes containing the formulation of this potion were confiscated by Russian wizards during their advance to Berlin.

Grindelwald was primarily based in Berlin, though he made frequent visits to Vienna, Cologne and Munich. Like Hitler, he had a mountain hideaway, though his was deep in Switzerland, near the mountain village of Engelberg. Grindelwald spent the last months of 1943 in Paris, but returned to Berlin in January 1944, only leaving again in mid-April, 1945, when he retreated to Engelberg before dying in a duel with Albus Dumbledore on 5th May 1945.

During the Grindelwald war, many British witches and wizards joined Muggle organisations. The British wizards opted to work alongside their Muggle counterparts, as there is no standing wizard army, and a battalion of wizards would be almost certain to breach the International Statute of Secrecy. The Ministry of Magic was most closely involved with Muggle Intelligence agencies, and at that time Albus Dumbledore was in charge of the Ministry of Magic Department for Internal Security (a subdivision of the Department of Mysteries). (The department had a very flexible charter, of which Dumbledore took full advantage). It is clear that he thought Grindelwald a major threat to British (as well as European) security, and he was proven correct by the number of German wizards who tried to infiltrate the UK. Domestic security was also unreliable; a number of Ministry employees passed information on to Grindelwald and much of the material relating to Muggles ended up in the hands of the Nazis.

Expanding his remit, Dumbledore was in close contact with the SOE (Special Operations Executive), as one of the senior members of this organisation had a wizard brother. Colin Gubbins was convinced of the utility of wizards in a secret war and encouraged Dumbledore to send him likely recruits. In return, he allowed them to use conventional channels to send information to Dumbledore, thus giving him the information necessary to locate Grindelwald's Swiss sanctuary, despite its Unplottability.

To avoid the anti-Apparation wards, Dumbledore and his second parachuted into the area. Dumbledore challenged Grindelwald to a duel in the traditional fashion, and bested him, though at the cost of severe injuries. (His second brought him back to the UK using an emergency Portkey). As a result of his action in neutral Switzerland, he lost his job at the Ministry, and was immediately appointed to the post of Transfiguration Master at Hogwarts, a post he was happy to accept. For his heroic work in ridding the world of Grindelwald, he was awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class. The smoking remains of Grindelwald were placed in a magic-dispelling field and scattered in Lake Constance by Swiss officials.  



End file.
